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Journal of Business Ethics

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12-06-2019 | Original Paper

Ideals-Based Accountability and Reputation in Select Family Firms

Authors: Isabelle Le Breton-Miller, Danny Miller

Published in: Journal of Business Ethics | Issue 2/2020

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Abstract

We develop a model of ideals-based accountability (IBA) which we have witnessed at work in several long-thriving family businesses. The owners and managers of these firms eschew individualism and materiality in the pursuit of ethical ideals such as supporting democracy and bettering the human condition. Although accountability is to these ideals, not for outcomes such as profitability or even reputation, IBA has resulted in outstanding reputations for some firms. We characterize IBA according to its missions, leadership, culture, and stakeholder relationships. We also contrast it with traditional forms of accountability and differentiate IBA from related stakeholder, stewardship, and CSR perspectives. Finally, we examine its manifestations within five long-lived family enterprises, in the process generating propositions to advance the concept.

previous article Pathways to Corporate Accountability: Corporate Reputation and Its Alternatives

next article Is Corporate Tax Aggressiveness a Reputation Threat? Corporate Accountability, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Corporate Tax Behavior

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Certainly, felt responsibility is to the segment of society served by the ideal; however in no way are those embracing IBA answerable via concrete reporting to any specific person, group or institution.

This happened from 1945 to 1954 at Renault when the French government owned the firm and CEO Pierre Lefaucheux, a hero of the Resistance, embraced the ideal of post-war economic recovery in the French manufacturing sector at considerable personal cost to himself and to Renault short-term profits, but to the great benefit of the French economy (Miller and Sardais 2011).

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Title: Ideals-Based Accountability and Reputation in Select Family Firms
Authors: Isabelle Le Breton-Miller
Danny Miller
Publication date: 12-06-2019
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Journal of Business Ethics / Issue 2/2020
Print ISSN: 0167-4544
Electronic ISSN: 1573-0697
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04225-5

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